The invention relates to fishing nets and more particularly to purse seines.
For many years it has been the common practice to secure a series of plain rings along the lower edge of a purse seine, and pass a purse line through these rings. This purse line is operatively connected at its ends to suitable winding or pulling mechanism such as winches so that the bottom of the seine may be drawn together or closed when desired. It is not unusual for more than a hundred of these rings to be used on a seine of commercial size.
One of the problems that has existed in the practice of using plain rings is that the frictional drag on the line running through this series of rings is very great. It imposes a tremendous load on the winches and unduly increases the difficulty of properly reeling in the seine. Moreover, the friction frequently wears through some of the rings, thus rendering them useless and it also produces excessive wear on the line. This presents a serious problem, where, as in recent years, extensive use has been made of steel cable, which are relatively expensive.
It is also important that the purse line be reeled in quickly in order to close the bottom of the net as quickly as possible. Any excessive delays or problems that produce interruptions in reeling in the line allows some of the netted fish to escape.
It is an object of the invention to provide a novel roller purse ring which is simple and rugged in construction and which shall tend to be "no-fouling", that is to say, shall be entirely free from any sharp edges or projections on which the line or net might catch or become entangled or cut.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a novel purse ring that has a roller journaled adjacent its bottom end that reduces frictional drag on the line running through the series of purse rings.
It is another object of the invention to provide a novel roller purse ring that has structure which allows the purse line to be laterally inserted into and laterally removed therefrom instead of having to thread it through the closed loop configuration of the ring.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a novel roller purse ring that is economical to manufacture and market.